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Conservation across Moray: How's your bog breath?


By Alistair Whitfield

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Satellite technology should be widely used across Scotland to measure whether peatland bogs are 'breathing' in healthy manner or not.

That's the conclusion following scientific research carried out by a team from the University of Highland and Island in conjunction with others.

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The team used a technique called Satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) which is able to detect tiny movements of the ground’s surface.

Peatland specialist David Large, who led the research, says the way that a bog moves – or breathes – can be influenced by many factors, including rainfall levels and what vegetation is contained within them.

He added: " A healthy peatland is wet with lots of soft and spongy sphagnum mosses that swell and retain water.

"In contrast, drier peatlands are stiffer and unresponsive to the addition of water.

"The former moves like a beating heart, whereas a degraded peatland could be described as flatlining.

"This technique is really exciting because it enhances our understanding of peatlands, allowing us to see what we would not ordinarily be able to with the naked eye.

"It makes our peatlands more accessible and ensures restoration takes place in the right place.

"In the future, it has the potential to be used to monitor carbon emissions."

The others involved in the research were the University of Nottingham and Forestry and Land Scotland.

The InSAR technique was developed with the University of Nottingham's spinout company Terra Motion Ltd.



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